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Nanny Confessions

Saturday, March 5, 2011

The Attachment Parenting Book: A Commonsense Guide to Understanding and Nurturing Your Baby

Weekly Trip to the Library for Nannies and Au Pairs

Over the past few days we have been reviewing our favorite baby carriers.

The term "babywearing" was coined by renowned attachment parenting advocate and pediatrician, Dr. William Sears.

Scientific research has reported that babies who are carried for at least three hours a day cry dramatically less – 43% less during the day and 51% less at night. Babies love the closeness of a carrier as they form with their caregiver.

Babywearing has also been shown to enhance mental development by allowing baby to remain in a calm, "quiet alert" state - the optimal state for learning. Carried babies are exposed to a wide range of experiences and are engaged in the world around them. Infants make eye contact with their parents to learn social cues and learn to assess a situation. This is particularly pertinent while baby is being worn in a "tummy to tummy" position.

Dr. Eveline Kirkilionis, author of A Baby Wants To Be Carried, describes forward facing positions as "overwhelming…In this position the baby cannot make eye contact with his or her parent to evaluate facial expressions, social cues, and so forth to make assessment of the situation."

Babywearing also has benefits for the new mother with reduced incidence of postpartum depression. Although the basis for this is still unknown, it is suspected that both a reduction in baby’s crying and possible hormonal stimulation play a part.

Attachment parenting is a style of parenting that encourages a strong early attachment, and advocates parental responsiveness to babies' dependency needs. The Attachment Parenting Book : A Commonsense Guide to Understanding and Nurturing Your Babyclearly explains the six "Baby B's" that form the basis of this increasingly popular parenting style: Bonding, Breastfeeding, Babywearing, Bedding close to baby, Belief in the language value of baby's cry, Beware of baby trainers.

Stop by tomorrow for a review of a Product Nannies Love and again next Saturday for another Weekly Trip to the Library.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I love the stats on why baby wearing is a good thing.

I love this concept and when I raise my babies I will follow these principles, but I work for a mother that is very strict. It's difficult working for a strict parent so in the future I will try to find a job with a more nurturing mom boss.

I think there are more cons than pros with Attachement Parenting.In the past none of the familes I worked for practiced this method.They all were very focused on their child and gave them lots of attention and I feel the children were all very smart and content. They slept well and could self soothe and could occupy themselves happily.I now work for a family who feels strongly about Attachement Parenting-I read up about it, and was not sure of the method, but I wanted to exp. it first hand.While I do see the pros- I think the cons outweigh the pros.Mainly due to the fact that it's difficult to always have the baby wanting/strongly needing to be held- in order to be content, She was held most of the time for the first 4 months, and rarely put down for tummy/floor time. So it was hard to ever put her down. She also slept best on someone while being held and rocked or walked around and at night sleeps right next to mom. Many days she still can not settle down and put herself to sleep without being held and rocked and wakes very easily-and does not take a long nap unless in a swing and it is rocking. All which IMO creates poor sleeping habits because she can not "self-sooth" even though she is now an older infant (8+ months). I don't mind holding a baby- but when I need to use the restroom or do a chore most times it's impossible to put her down, because she cries. When I try to put her down for a nap in her crib she wakes after a short amount of time and cries until I pick her up. (yes, I've tried all the tricks.) She also rarely wants me out of sight and does not play alone for more than 5 min. very well, but I am working on it. The biggest issue is that she only sleeps well in a swing or car seat (after having been on a car ride.) Since she is getting older and I know she will outgrown her swing soon. So I don't know what I will do for her naps if she does not get used to sleeping in crib. Any suggestions are appreciated!

I think there has to be a balance- and Attachement Parenting is too extreme for me. And creates more issues for the child, i.e. not being able to self soothe or get to sleep with out "parenting the child to sleep" or wearing them donw... all which begins to burn out the caregiver since the baby is so needy.And when the parents are going to be ready for her to leave the night bed- it will be harder on the child since she will be older.All which could have been avoided if they sleep trained her in her first few months.

I actually agree with 2nd anonymous. Last week everyone praised attachment parenting on this blog and that's fine. I didn't say anything because I felt they would think I'm not nurturing and I am! It's hard to be a nanny when parents aren't home to help you and carry a baby. I think a baby needs to explore on their own and being carried most of the day isn't necessary. That being said, infants can't be spoiled either. So I don't think it's bad to carry them while you do normal safe chores around the house or when taking a walk to pick up the other kids from school, etc..

You just have to know what you prefer and hopefully you can find a parent with similar philosophy.